We lived in Belgium in the 1970s. Dad, Eric Hayles was working for Volvo Europa at Oostakker near Ghent and we moved into a house in the Verlorenbroodstraat in Merelbeke. We hope you enjoy our evocative photos of life in Merelbeke, a suburb of Ghent.
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We lived near the beautiful city of Ghent (Gent) in Belgium in East Flanders (Oost Vlaanderen) from 1974 till 1978, although dad was there for about another six years after that. We hope you enjoy some of our photo archive from those happy times.
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Some of our wonderful neighbours and friends when we lived in Merelbeke. If you know any names that we haven't mentioned, please add them below the photo.
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We attended church at the Evangelisch Centruum, Burgstraat, Gent, where we got to know the wonderful Davies family from Wales (the clue was in the name!) Charles and Betty, Godfrey, Joseph and Noel. There were also two sisters who weren't in Belgium. Charles was an accomplished artists and signwriter. He once had a job painting the Coca Cola logo on lorries, so he must have been very good! He also painted a sign for our neighbours opposite which read "Bobinage van motoren".
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In the 1990s, along came the internet. Jonathan put "Merelbeke" into a search engine to see what he would see, and stumbled across the website of Sint-Michielsschool. After writing a greeting in the guest book he received a reply from Guy van Heddegem, and a friendship developed which led to Jonathan visiting Merelbeke in 1998 and writing a song which was performed at the school's Eindejaarshow. He visited again the following year. Here are some pictures from those shows.... we hope to bring you some video clips in the future too. Photos mostly by Jonathan Hayles, captions by Guy van Heddegem.
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GITO Merelbeke flyer van 1975 4/44671 viewsDec 05, 2017
GITO Merelbeke flyer van 1975 3/44438 viewsDec 05, 2017
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GITO Merelbeke leaflet from 1975 2/4865 viewsGITO Merelbeke flyer van 1975Dec 05, 2017
Cards at Number 311051 viewsOct 27, 2014
Wilfried at his mother's in Moortsele1217 viewsOct 27, 2014
Wilfried's mother in Moortsele1135 viewsOct 27, 2014
Wilfried and Lydiane at Wilfried's mother's in Moortsele1142 viewsOct 27, 2014
Tram near the Gravensteen in Ghent, 19781700 viewsOct 27, 2014
Wilfried adds the finishing touches to his villa1107 viewsOct 27, 2014
Lydiane makes sure Wilfried is doing things properly1108 viewsOct 27, 2014
Wilfried adds the finishing touches to his villa1096 viewsOct 27, 2014
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Visit to The Atomium Brussels 19752206 viewsMichael Hayles and Maureen Hayles
Cards at Number 311051 views
Josh on roof of Verlorenbroodstraat 29874 viewsYou can see Marcel Meersschaut's "boxen" in the background.
The neighbours of the Meersschauts in Meerstraat (nu Weidestraat)630 views
Michael and dad fix the VW exhaust.. it's only one year old!!998 viewsMerelbeke 1977
Charles Davies and Joe Davies on BBC One's The One Show - Just their bit649 views
Sinterklaas comes to Merelbeke1160 views
Ghent by night by Eric Hayles729 viewsEarly 1980s
Eric Piens helped by sons Hedwig and Reuben623 viewsApril 1978
I believe Eric is using Wilfried de Moor's cement mixer. I recognise it well!
The Criel family and Wilfried De Moor565 views
Volvo colleagues726 viewsTwo of dad's colleagues from Volvo Europa in Ghent.
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